How to Speak Persian

[urbastar]

Originally Posted by arashmordad

normal = mæmuli, 'addi (Ar.)
normally = mæmulæn (Ar.)
office = dæftær (Ar.), ofis
office building = edare

what I think is.... = mæn fekr mikonæm ke ....., mæn goman mikonam ke ....., an che mæn fekr/goman mikonæm ...., hæmuntor ke mæn fekr/goman mikonæm ....
the problem is that he is always doing... = moshkel in æst ke hamishe daræd .... mikonæd

thx, i thought daeftaer was synonym of book. How do you say actually"?

[xolang]

Originally Posted by arashmordad

Country and Region names in Farsi:

Iran (EErAn) = Iran (NOT Ay-Ræn or Eræn)

Amrika/Emrika = America (USA)
Kanada = Canada
Megzik = Mexico

Britania = Britain
Engilis/Engelestan = England
Eskatlænd = Scotland
Irlænd = Ireland
Alman = Germany
Otrish = Austria
Holænd = Netherlands
Beljhik = Belgium
Islænd = Iceland
Norvejh = Norway
Sued/Sved = Sweden
Danmark = Denmark
Fænland/Fenland = Finland
Porteqal = Portugal
Espania = Spain
Færanse = France
Italia = Italy
Yunan = Greece
Mæjarestan = Hungary
Rusie = Russia
Bolqarestan = Bulgaria
Ukrain = Ukraine
Torkiye = Turkey
Siprus = Cyprus

Surie = Syria
Lobnan = Lebanon
Eraq = Iraq
Koveit = Kuwait
Ordon = Jordan
Esrail = Israel
Felestin = Palestine
Æræbestan = Arabia
Sæudi Æræbie = Saudi Arabia
Yæmæn = Yemen
Oman = Oman
Emarat = UAE
Qætær = Qatar
Bæhrein = Bahrain
Mesr/Qept = Egypt
Libi = Libya
Æl'jæzayer = Algeria
Tunes = Tunisia
Mærakesh = Morocco

Qæfqaz = Caucuses
Gorjestan = Georgia
Ærmænestan = Armenia
Azærbaijan = Azerbaijan

Pakestan = Pakistan
Æfqanestan = Afghanistan
Tajikestan = Tajikistan

Torkæmænestan = Turkmenistan
Ozbækestan = Uzbekistan
Qæzaqestan = Kazakhstan
Qerqizestan = Kyrgyzstan

Hendustan/Hend = India
Bængeladesh = Bangladesh

Chin = China
Moqolestan = Mongolia
Kore = Korea
Jhapon = Japan

Mianmar = Burma
Vietnam = Vietnam
Filipin = Philippines
Ændonezi = Indonesia
Sængapur = Singapore
Ostralia = Australia
Nu Zilænd = New Zealand

Puerto Riko = Puerto Rico
Kuba = Cuba
Kolombia = Columbia
Brezil = Brazil
Arjhantin = Argentina
Shili = Chile

Ghæna = Ghana
Sudan = Sudan
Etyopi = Ethiopia
Afriqa e Jonubi = South Arica

Asia = Asia
Urupa = Europe
Efriqa = Africa
Amrika e Shomali = North America
Amrika e Jonubi = South America

Some interesting things:

Some countries/regions sound quite different from English:
Moqolestan | Mongolia
Hendustan/Hend | India
Märakesh | Morocco, with an important city called Marrakesh
Äl'jäzayer | Algeria {How do you pronounce the apostrophe?}
Mesr/Qept | Egypt
Mäjarestan | Hungary
Yunan | Greece
Alman | Germany
Qäfqaz | Caucasus
Ordon | Jordan
Lobnan | Lebanon
Bolqarestan | Bulgaria
Otrish | Austria
Engilis/Engelestan | England

A bunch of others would hardly be recognized upon hearing:
Qerqizestan
Torkämänestan
Ärmänestan
Gorjestan
Felestin
Sved/Sued
Urupa
Surie

The continent Efriqa (Africa) starts with an E, but Afriqa e Jonubi (South Africa) starts with an A.

Indonesia starts with an Ä (Ändonezi) instead of an I.

In Bahasa Indonesia we often abbreviate Amerika into Amrik, just like in Bahasa Persia.

Other parallels with Indonesian:
{Bahasa Indonesia | Bahasa Persia | Bahasa Inggris}
Mesir | Mesr | Egypt
Yunani | Yunan | Greece
Inggris/Inggeris | Engilis | England
Aljazair | Äl'jäzayer | Algeria {How do you pronounce the apostrophe again?}
Suriah | Surie | Syria
Siprus | Siprus | Cyprus
Italia | Italia | Italy

[xolang]

Has any of you tried using Persian in Uzbekistan?
It is said to be/have been quite widespread in certain cities like Samarqand & Bukhårå.

[daniellle]

persian has something mysterious which makes me wana learn it

[arashmordad]

Sorry it took a long time to reply. I've bee really busy lately.

Originally Posted by Redalinho

For Khoda Hafez, "Hafez" means protector in arabic

Okay I change it, but I thought "hafez" was synonymous with "hefz," which I thought meant memory?

Originally Posted by urbastar

thx, i thought daeftaer was synonym of book. How do you say actually"?

I'm not sure what it is in Arabic but we use dæftær for office.

book = ketab (Ar.), nameh ("nameh" is actually used for any type of literature)
actually = vaghe'æn (Ar.)

Originally Posted by xolang

Has any of you tried using Persian in Uzbekistan?
It is said to be/have been quite widespread in certain cities like Samarqand & Bukhårå.

Yes, there is a large minority of Tajiks in Uzbekistan, especially in those cities. Also Persian (with Russian) is still an important language in Central Asian countries, such as Uzbekistan.

Originally Posted by xolang

The continent Efriqa (Africa) starts with an E, but Afriqa e Jonubi (South Africa) starts with an A.

Yeah that is a mistake, I will change it

Originally Posted by daniellle

persian has something mysterious which makes me wana learn it

I'm glad that you are interested

[arashmordad]

The Persian Alphabet

I am now going to show the Persian Alphabet. I hope you memorized the words that I have written on the last page.

Now the Persian script is known as the "Perso-Arabic" script. This is because the script is based on the Arabic script with a few more Persian letters and different pronunciations of some letters.
Persian is read and written from right to left.
Letters that are in Persian and not used in standard Arabic will be in Green. Letters that are originally Arabic but are pronounced differently in Persian will be in Red. Vav/Waw is a specially letter and will be Blue, which you will see why later.

ﺍ - a,æ [this letter is known as "ælef." Usually it does the "a" sound (especially in the middle or end of a word), but in the beginning of a word it might have another sound such "æ, o", or "e". If they want a "a" in the beginning they use what is called in persian a "ælef ba kolah" (alef with a hat) which looks like this:
آ - a (in the begining)
ﺏ - b
پ - p
ﺕ - t
ﺙ - s ["th" in Arabic]
ﺝ - j
ﭺ - ch
ﺡ - h ["ḥ" in Arabic]
ﺥ - kh
ﺩ - d
ﺫ -z ["dh" in Ar.]
ﺭ - r
ﺯ - z
ژ - zh
ﺱ - s
ﺵ - sh
ﺹ - s ["ṣ" in Ar.]
ﺽ - z ["ḍ" in Ar.]
ﻁ - t ["ṭ" in Ar.]
ﻅ - z ["ẓ" in Ar.]
ﻉ - ' ('eyn), 'æ
ﻍ - gh
ﻑ - f
ﻕ - gh ["q" (slirred "gh") in Ar.)
ک - k
گ - g
ﻝ - l
ﻡ - m
ﻥ - n
و - v/w,o,u [depending which dialect of Persian you are speaking, vav as a consonant can differ. In Iran it is pronounce as "v," where as in the Eastern dialects of Persian, such as Dari and Tajiki, it is pronounced as "w"]
ﻩ - h
ﻯ - y,i

[arashmordad]

Persian Script, Part 2

Vowels
You might have been looking at the alphabet and it might have occurred to you that many vowels have not been represented. That is because that the Persian script is a abjad, a cursive script that mostly represents consonants and not vowels.
Let us take a look at the word madær (mother):مادر
As you can see madær comprises the letters m-a-d-r. But wait a minute, there is no "æ!" Actually, there is, it is just not normally represented by a letter. In fact "æ", "e", and for the most part "o" are not represented, unless in the beginning of a word, which will be represented be alef ﺍ. Now don't get worried or scared, there are representations for these letters which beginners to the language do use.
Now there are consonant-vowels such as alef, ye, and vav that are always used:
ﺍ - a (in middle or end), æ/e/o (in begining)
آ - a (in begining)
و - u,o (in middle or end)
ﻯ - i

Now what about the others. Well here are some "helpers" that can help you begin Persian with using these vowels, but once you are well enough, you don't need to use them:
ـَ - æ
ـِ - e
ـُ - o

now let's look at "madær" again, this time with "æ":
مادَر
You can see the "æ" above "d."
These diacritics are not normally used though. In modern times, they are only used for beginners to help them learn the script, like training wheels.

[koloftoo]

Why use "farsi" and then put Persian in parentheses? Our language has a well defined name, identity and history in the English language. It's not Kiche or some other newly discovered language which the native name must be used for. By substituting its long established name you are robbing our language of its roots, brand and identity in the English speaking world. Do the French refer to their language as Francais in English? Do the Arabs call theirs "Arabi"? Do we have to drop all standards to endear ourselves to others? When will the children of Iran learn to value their heritage?

[arashmordad]

Originally Posted by koloftoo

Why use "farsi" and then put Persian in parentheses? Our language has a well defined name, identity and history in the English language. It's not Kiche or some other newly discovered language which the native name must be used for. By substituting its long established name you are robbing our language of its roots, brand and identity in the English speaking world. Do the French refer to their language as Francais in English? Do the Arabs call theirs "Arabi"? Do we have to drop all standards to endear ourselves to others? When will the children of Iran learn to value their heritage?

Because not everyone knows that Farsi and Persian are the same thing. I had instances where people would ask me "Oh, I forgot, do they speak Farsi in Iran or do they peak Persian?" Some people still think Arabic is the main language in Iran.
Though most people do understand that Farsi and Persian are the same language, I try to clarify for those who might still be confused. In America they refer to the language both as Persian and Farsi.
It is not that we do not value our heritage. Most of the Iranian formers and I here value our heritage and culture very much or we wouldn't be doing and contributing something like this to show the world who we are.

[Saeed De La Vega]

Dustan,Behtar nist be jaye kalame "Farsi" , Az kalameye "Parsi" estefade konim?
baram kheyli jalebe be khatere inke araba chon nemitunestan "p" ro talafoz konand,az "f" estefade mikardan,vali hala mesle inke khodemun ru daste araba zadim!
in kalamat motasefane be khatere bi ahamiatihaye ma avaz shode:
پارس=فارس
سپید=سفید
باژ=باج
سرزمین پارسیان=سرزمین فارسیان
taze be vozuh daram mibinam ke az kalame بلاد arabi ham estefade mikonan,ke khoda ro shokr ba ezafe shodane un dige 100 darsad zabane ma arabi mishe.
unam faghat be khatere inke araba nemitunan az harfhaye 'p,ch,zh,g" estefade konan,chizi hodude hezaran kalame haye ma taghire shekl dadan.
agar mishe name topico taghiir bedid,alan estefade az kalameye "parsi" khoshbakhtane kheyli rayej taraz ghabl shode...

[koloftoo]

Originally Posted by arashmordad

Because not everyone knows that Farsi and Persian are the same thing. I had instances where people would ask me "Oh, I forgot, do they speak Farsi in Iran or do they peak Persian?" Some people still think Arabic is the main language in Iran.
Though most people do understand that Farsi and Persian are the same language, I try to clarify for those who might still be confused. In America they refer to the language both as Persian and Farsi.
It is not that we do not value our heritage. Most of the Iranian formers and I here value our heritage and culture very much or we wouldn't be doing and contributing something like this to show the world who we are.

Arash jan, what kind of logic is that dadash? In Persian, this is called "Ozr-e bad tar az gonaah". If you wish to change the name of our language in English to Farsi, then I understand you. But if not, you cannot correct a wrong by using it, propagating it, and giving it prominence.

Are you also confused as to the name of our language? Why complicate the matter? Just refer to it by its name. An already known, existing and established name with millenia of history and heritage. Why keep using the other name if it's not right?

Until a couple of decades ago, the other name did not even exist in the conscience of the English language. People in the States are confused today because of so many khodshirin and ignorant Iranians, who figure it's worth even the name of their language to endear themselves to non-Iranians.

Please think for a minute before you reply back to me. Thanks

[Hallcaholic]

I think farsi is a very nice language and hope to learn it one day. Is it me or does Farsi sound like Kurdish? Just that I have a Kurdish friend and when ever I at his house his parents talk in Kurdish and sounds very similar to Persians when they speak.

[urbastar]

How do you say : Nice to meet you?

[alitezar]

Az didanetun khoshhal shodam= Nice to meet you

[alitezar]

Originally Posted by Hallcaholic

I think farsi is a very nice language and hope to learn it one day. Is it me or does Farsi sound like Kurdish? Just that I have a Kurdish friend and when ever I at his house his parents talk in Kurdish and sounds very similar to Persians when they speak.

Hi,

I don't really know but I think Arash might be able to help

[noonghandi]

Originally Posted by Hallcaholic

I think farsi is a very nice language and hope to learn it one day. Is it me or does Farsi sound like Kurdish? Just that I have a Kurdish friend and when ever I at his house his parents talk in Kurdish and sounds very similar to Persians when they speak.

Kurdish language is a Persian dialect. Most Kurds speak fluent Persian and/or understand most of the language.

[Yapachoo]

Hi Arash and all, noroozetun shaad baad! (bit late i know!)

I have a question about verbs. I often see the particle dar (در) in front of a conjugated verb, such as dar omad (در آمدن), or dar avord (در آوردن), or dar gozasht (در گذاشتن). Does the dar have a particular function on the front of verbs?

[arashmordad]

Hi guys, sorry I haven't replied, I have been very busy lately.

Originally Posted by Hallcaholic

I think farsi is a very nice language and hope to learn it one day. Is it me or does Farsi sound like Kurdish? Just that I have a Kurdish friend and when ever I at his house his parents talk in Kurdish and sounds very similar to Persians when they speak.

Thank you very much!
Persian and Kurdish are sister languages, both apart of the Iranian languages, like how English and German are sister languages. They should sound similar and have many similar words and grammatical structure.

Originally Posted by Yapachoo

Hi Arash and all, noroozetun shaad baad! (bit late i know!)

I have a question about verbs. I often see the particle dar (در) in front of a conjugated verb, such as dar omad (در آمدن), or dar avord (در آوردن), or dar gozasht (در گذاشتن). Does the dar have a particular function on the front of verbs?

Sepas Yapachoo. Noruzetan piruz!
Nice question! I am not very sure myself. It probably has something to do with "going out" or "leaving" something, but don't quote me on that. All I can really be sure of is that it makes the verb more specific:
amædæn - to come
dær amædæn - to come out
avordæn - to bring
dær avordæn - to bring out
gozæshtæn - to pass
dær gozæshtæn - to pass away

[urbastar]

Originally Posted by arashmordad

Hi guys, sorry I haven't replied, I have been very busy lately.

Thank you very much!
Persian and Kurdish are sister languages, both apart of the Iranian languages, like how English and German are sister languages. They should sound similar and have many similar words and grammatical structure.


Sepas Yapachoo. Noruzetan piruz!
Nice question! I am not very sure myself. It probably has something to do with "going out" or "leaving" something, but don't quote me on that. All I can really be sure of is that it makes the verb more specific:
amædæn - to come
dær amædæn - to come out
avordæn - to bring
dær avordæn - to bring out
gozæshtæn - to pass
dær gozæshtæn - to pass away

How do you conjugate avordan in the imperative?

[QWECXZ]

Originally Posted by Yapachoo

Hi Arash and all, noroozetun shaad baad! (bit late i know!)

I have a question about verbs. I often see the particle dar (در) in front of a conjugated verb, such as dar omad (در آمدن), or dar avord (در آوردن), or dar gozasht (در گذاشتن). Does the dar have a particular function on the front of verbs?

in persian we have 3 types of verbs (4 types to be more exact), one type is simple verbs like "raftan", "khordan", "Amadan" and so on. the second type of persian verbs are those verbs which have a prefix on the front of them. like "dar Amadan", "bar bastan", "dar gozashtan", "pish/pas raftan" and ...
the third type of persian verbs are those verbs which are a combination of two different nouns or two different verbs or one noun + one verb. like "barkhord kardan", "goosh dadan" and ...

the last type which is used rarely in the persian language is verbs like "khosh amadan", "bad amadan", "sakht amadan" and ... . they are usually a combination of one human feeling and one verb that is usually the verb Amadan. their conjugation is a little bit different, for example if we want to conjugate the verb "khosh Amadan" we say { khosham Amad, Khoshet Amad, Khoshesh Amad, Khosheman Amad, khoshetan Amad, khosheshan Amad }. some linguists don't consider this type as the 4th type of persian verbs because the noun of the verb is not conjugated in the proper way but instead it's conjugated like "my [noun], your [noun], his [noun], ....]. however some persian linguists have described this type as the 4th type of persian verbs. (I personally think that this type isn't a new type because It doesn't include a large variety of persian verbs)